


Spotlight: Star Wars Masters

by Rusty_Thebanite



Series: Star Wars: Masters [1]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Force Things!, Gen, Loss of Innocence, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 18:47:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29105073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rusty_Thebanite/pseuds/Rusty_Thebanite
Summary: Who do you call Master, and what does it mean to you? Are they deserving of Love? Of Obedience? Or perhaps instead they deserve nothing? Many are faced with this choice, sometimes early, sometimes late. And a few never get that chance at all.
Relationships: Dooku & Ahsoka Tano, Plo Koon & Ahsoka Tano
Series: Star Wars: Masters [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137005
Comments: 14
Kudos: 22





	1. Light Ahead, Ashes Behind

**Author's Note:**

> So...I really have a lot more experience than this implies, but basically, I have SO much stuff that just isn't in a state where I can trust myself to update consistently but still want to get opinions on. I don't really do one-shots but I guess that's what this is? Excerpts, anyway - just single scenes that are part of a more extensive series of multi-chapter stories in the Star Wars universe planned. The ideas that strike me as particularly interesting or important will be put here piece-meal for you guys to weigh in on.  
> (There will be other Spotlight series for my other fandoms)

Shili burned outside the window of Plo's Aethersprite, a vast swath of the southern plains now black instead of that shimmering red-and-white of turu grass blowing in the wind. Even from space, both effects were clear - with stark boundaries between them.

Though the destruction wreaked on the Togruta people by one selfish Zygerrian was horrific, paining the Kel Dor's gentle heart, he smiled at the sight of the Youngling standing on his lap, her striped and spotted face, tiny montral nubs and three-tooth headdress pressed against the silverglass cockpit. Her breathing fogged the clear material.

The headdress in question reassured him immensely, that though she was a little older than the norm, she had also used her new freedom to choose in order to serve the highest purpose. She was a child with great dreams and drive both. She would be extraordinary.

Plo let himself feel that love and affection for a moment when she giggled, but heeded his Master's teachings and laid them aside. "They will be alright, Little 'Soka," he murmured as much for his own sake as for hers as he pulled her back down to a sitting position and approached the hyperspace ring, "your people are as resilient as the turu grass that conceals them."

She looked up at him from her canine doodle, a touch of that absolute faith and frank wisdom all children seemed to possess in her clear blue eyes. "'Es, P'o," she stumbled on the simple Basic phrase. He chuckled and spoke in Togruti, [there will be lessons on Basic in time, Young One. For now, I am happy to make it easier for you.]

[Okay!] she chirped back, the trilling of her montrals tinny at this age. She settled down, watching her finger art disappear.

It was the work of moments to link up with the hyperspace ring, and bring Ahsoka Tano to a new chapter in her life.

And behind them, a whisper in the Force.


	2. Shadows Sleep, Light Blinds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few months into her stay at the temple, Ahsoka is bored of the only education they require of her at this time. So mistakes were made, but will the consequences really be all that bad?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some comments on the last chapter suggest that explaining my reasoning and what canon material I used for each one would be helpful, so I will be doing that starting now! At least when I am pleased with how I can mess with canon while staying true to it and I want to brag about it. I did alter both the layout of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, and the biology of the Uneti tree in order to make the setting, but the events actually fit with canon!

Ahsoka bounded through the temple's ancient stone hallways, her sense of the Force - so recently explained - dancing with elation as she celebrated the end of Master Krell's meditation lessons the best way she knew how.

By getting into places she did not belong.

Her giggles echoed throughout the temple, carrying with it the shape of the ancient building's path for her budding senses to follow. Unfortunately, she could still barely use it to remember where she had already been. A large, empty space in the center of the temple made itself known to her, and she turned in that direction. It felt almost wild in its irregularity, even unlike the plains she had been born on, but such a strange feeling could not have prepared her for the sight waiting past the archway.

The chamber was round, nearly a thousand feet in diameter, and dappled in sunlight. While the sandstone walls of the halls and cubby holes were plain, even homey in their simplicity - with the glaring exceptions of the high tech infirmary and archives - the walls here were carved with figures of people and animals, birds and mammals and reptiles, vines, and other plants. Further in, though within a dozen yards of the room's own borders, a low retaining wall contained two feet of crystal clear water stretching off in the distance. This wall was pierced on occasion by meandering pathways, splitting the water into more manageable sections, and she headed eagerly for one.

She did not enter the pathway but instead climbed up the retaining wall to get a better look into the water. Spotted white and orange, like her, large fish drifted lazily in the currents of submerged water spouts. She flopped onto her back to look up and saw there was not, in fact, a roof. The Jedi Temple's courtyard was shaded by an immense tree, planted in the center at some point in millennia past and allowed to grow to such an incredible size its branches spanned the entire area. It was this extraordinary plant that had lit up her senses with twists and turns.

Delighted, she wobbled and stumbled her way along the ledge until she reached the monolithic roots. More fountains sprayed out from between them, forming little waterfalls at various heights, and she couldn't resist jumping between them. She clutched the trunk with all four limbs, wedging her fingers and toes and teeth in the bark so she could scramble up to the nearest branch. Once balanced on all fours, she peered out and down between the leaves.

Even from here the view was glorious. The clear blue of the water striped with tan and speckled by the green of giant lily pads, brief orange, white, black and yellow flashes from the fish swimming around, and the roots of the tree reaching for it like brown fingers wanting to lace themselves through another's. She went higher. From branch to branch she shifted between feline grace and a toddler's utter lack of such a thing without rhyme or reason but she always managed to reach the next spot. Until at some point she could no longer be bothered.

She belted out a huge yawn and stretched, her eyes drooping. After a moment she lay down on her belly, draping her arms and legs down either side of the branch, and fell asleep surrounded by green leaves and silver 3-petaled blossoms.

\---

The venerable elder who entered the Room of a Thousand Fountains was dressed in silks rather than hempen robes, one thin silver chain clasping a maroon cape to the shoulders of a cream doublet rather than a homespun, hooded brown cloak draped over undyed wool. Though his full beard was neatly trimmed, and his silver hair was combed back and polished until it gleamed, the bone-deep weariness in his black eyes was unmistakable. It had been many months since he had last left his planet, but Count Dooku's unique position as a retired Jedi meant he was still allowed on temple grounds on occasion - so long as he did not flaunt his presence.

More exhausted than he would ever allow himself to show, Count Dooku walked slowly and deliberately towards the center of the room. Serreno had been no comfort as he meditated, but the cold and uncaring facade of the temple was tolerable when this place of beauty, safety and peace resided within for those willing to brave it. No matter where he looked these days, the darkness encroached on his vision - his efforts to bring prosperity to the Outer Rim faced with endless hardship. This was nothing new, but even a Jedi may grow weary after half a century of failure. But perhaps his goal here, today, would help alleviate the cold sense of despair leeching his strength.

Claiming his favorite nook in the base of the Uneti tree, he sat and folded his legs. Rising Meditation came easier and easier these days, an indication he was close to his goal, but the peace it had once given him no longer did. He measured his breath, turning inward with ease, and submerged himself in the gentle warmth of the tree's sensitivity.

A squeak of surprise startled him out of his trance, and before he could react a tiny streak of orange fell from a branch somewhere above to land directly on his head.

"Oof!" they both cried out. For a long moment, Dooku stared nonplussed at the Togruta child draped over him just above and between his eyes, an idle part of his mind noting the repeated diamond motif, and the darkness receded. He began to laugh, deep and boisterous for the first time in decades as he picked her up by the scruff with the Force and placed her on the tree root next to him.

"That was quite the entrance, little one," he commented humorously, "tell me, what is your name?" 

"Ahsoka," she answered promptly, as if she had not just feared for her life, and with great care as she pronounced them more clearly than she was probably used to. "It's Ahsoka Tano, Master....?"

He sighed, "I am not a Master, I'm afraid."

"Oh, Knight then," she corrected herself, starting to speak more rapidly, and thus sloppily, "surprise you dint get proted for Eles Geecee."

He snorted, "You mean 'I am surprised you did not get promoted for Long Service Good Conduct', I presume?" he commented, briefly confused by her use of military terminology. "I am afraid I am not a Jedi at all. Or at least, not anymore."

She blinked blankly at him. "But you're in the temple. Meditating." she treated the second quality as by far the worse indictment, causing him to laugh even more.

"I am retired, little one," he said with a smile once the mirth had subsided, "I do not work as a Jedi anymore, though my training remains."

"You can do that?" she asked in surprise.

"Not usually," he admitted with some irritation, "but my views and theirs have always been at odds. Rather than engaging in debate, they quietly permitted my departure when it was proposed." He paused, eyeing her curiously. Certainly, it wouldn't hurt to be rejected one more time, and if there was even the slightest chance... "You see I have always believed that the Sith were never truly gone. That we should remain vigilant against their potential return."

"Makes sense," Ahsoka said with a casual shrug. He raised an eyebrow.

"Your reaction tells me you have already begun arguing with them over something," he said gently, something akin to excitement making an appearance, "And I always support reasoned discussion. Tell me - where do you disagree with the Order?"

She made a face, "The Attachment thing."

His second eyebrow joined the first. "Is that so," he commented, "Why?"

"Well," she crossed her eyes in concentration as she strove to make her words clear. "I mean, we HAVE attachments here. Just not outside the Order?"

"Ah, but attachment leads to the Dark Side."

"So? Does that mean I can't have a Master?"

He almost choked, because of course, that was an attachment - and an incredibly strong one if done right.

"Should I forget about Master Plo just because he finished bringing me to the Temple?" she asked again, "Or is there no point in getting along with my crechemates?" Dooku smiled broadly.

"So what you're saying is that the Jedi suggest abandoning all attachment, but the organization only functions as a result of its attachments."

She grinned, "Yeah! That's a pretty way of saying it!"

After a brief pause, he asked curiously, "Which connections would you say are required?"

Ahsoka's grin broadened and she stood, taking a pose like one of her teachers' and reeled them off, "Finder, Crechemates, Master. Padawan, their Crechemates, and Foundlings!"

Dooku puzzled that through for a moment, then nodded, "Senior Jedi as parents, Junior Jedi as children, and contemporaries as siblings. Yes, I think I agree with you." he turned back to her with an affectionate frown, "but then why were you, my dear grand-niece, in the Room of a Thousand Fountains to begin with? I believe this place is barred to those below the rank of Padawan."

Ahsoka turned away, "I was just exploring!" she explained quickly, "the rest of the temple might feel safe, but this place is twisty! I like it!"

"It is that," Dooku agreed, "do you know the reason this place has so many intricate carvings, when the rest of the temple does not?" he asked, "it is because this chamber, and thus the carvings, existed before the Modern Order and its restrictions came to be." Ahsoka looked at him wide-eyed and he couldn't help but continue, "the history of the Jedi is long and complicated. In its current form, the Modern Order is barely a thousand years old yet in one way or another they have been around nearly one hundred times that. The most ancient texts I could find imply that even the name has changed since then, though what it was I do not know."

"Woah," Ahsoka breathed, "did you know you're still floating?" He blinked at looked at her, then down at his seat, and discovered that yes indeed, his Rising Meditation had lingered all the way through their little talk and all the ups and downs involved. He had mastered the final step, and it was due - if only in part - to this little one's interruption. He breathed deeply and remained vertical as he extended his feet to the ground, then slowly pushed away the Force. He drifted the remaining inch or so down until he touched the ground, and settled into a more normal position. "Thank you," he said quietly, then put a hand on the tree's trunk, "thank you both, you helped me achieve an important milestone today." Ahsoka shifted in surprise as the tree responded through the Force, a wisp of warmth entering their hearts for a moment. Dooku turned to consider Ahsoka, "You know what? I had intended to do a little exploring of my own today. Why don't I take you along? Though it would only be a short distance."

Ahsoka bounced on her heels in excitement. "Yes! Um, please."

Dooku obliged, picking her up and curling one arm under her rear as he approached another root of the tree. "I can at least show you the entrance," he proclaimed, walking behind the root and down a hidden tunnel, "You see?" he asked as Ahsoka reached out to touch the wooden walls, "Every time another level of the city was built on top of Coruscant's surface, the temple was instead raised to meet it -- block by block, disassembled, preserved and reassembled after the surroundings were complete. Do you know the great ventilation shafts that allow sky travel through the main city? Well beneath the temple is another one of those - banned to the public, guarded by the Jedi. This tree was planted here at a time when the surface of Coruscant still saw the sun, and it has been here so long that we have forgotten how it grows with us. And yes, I have asked the tree but it does not speak as we do so I cannot understand its answers." he smiled with approval as the girl hung on his every word. "What this means, however, is that the tree - and the shaft - reach level 0." The gaping hole of the ventilation shaft yawned before them, so dark that shadows could not be cast into it and only the monolithic trunk of the Uneti tree reflected anything, immense clods of rich, loamy earth clinging to its sides. The air was fetid, but the tree continued its job, making the scent a mere hint on the ancient breeze.

Ahsoka sneezed in irritation. Dooku set her down on the ledge, just inside the tunnel. "Only a fully-equipped starship can travel freely through the shafts, but there are none small enough to slip through the tree's roots. That leaves only one option. It is a Force Technique whose full form has long been abandoned as too difficult when the more obvious benefit is so simple to achieve. You saw it in my Rising Meditation." he contemplated her for a long moment, then patted her shoulder."I am glad there was somebody I could show this to," he said, "as I am uncertain whether I will return. Remember this, Ahsoka Tano: even Coruscant, even the Jedi, even the temple itself, may bury its secrets."

She nodded solemnly, wrapping her arms around her knees as she watched him step off the edge...and drift down slowly. So slowly, in fact, that she could watch the lip of the ledge travel up the length of his body. He winked at her as the ledge drew even with his chin. "Wish me luck, Little One," he said with a smile. And with every second she lingered in that infinite darkness, Ahsoka did as she was asked.

A long time later, she spoke into the darkness.

"I have got to learn how to do that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I moved the Uneti tree to the Room of a Thousand Fountains, and the Room to the center of the Temple. I also created the Pre-Jedi history for both, so that the Jeda'ii planted the tree when they first arrived on Coruscant. The Uneti tree is no longer a small species, but distantly akin to the Wroshyr trees of Kashyyyk and this individual is connected to Level 0 in much the same way Hunter X Hunter treats the World Trees. Filoni's concept art also got involved, in that the Sith Temple is directly below the Jedi Temple, and there is a vent between the two supported by the Uneti tree.
> 
> Yes, that means this is where Obi-Wan and Xanatos fought in my version.
> 
> My reasoning goes as such: Dooku's retirement from the Jedi occurred before he fell. Yoda would not take this as an opportunity to stop worrying about him, though, so in order to continue keeping an eye out for his apprentice he had permitted Dooku to keep visiting the temple. Dooku's fascination with ancient ruins and Sith artifacts led him to explore below the Room and Tree, where his past readings implied there would be more material to study, and to learn levitation in order to survive doing so. It was contact with the Sith Temple that planted a seed in the soil of his creeping despair and frustration, and Qui-Gon's death - which was the canon reason for Dooku's fall - that sprouted that seed.
> 
> But Ahsoka arrived at the temple a year before the events of The Phantom Menace would occur. Qui-Gon dies at the same time Anakin arrives. Anakin is 9 at the time, but only 5 years older than Ahsoka (I checked!) meaning she was 4 during TPM. Seeing as Ahsoka arrived at the temple when she was 3 - boom! A blank year where all of her Jedi lineage is alive and Light-aligned and only one member - Anakin - doesn't have access to the temple! And therefore, a year in which she might meet both Qui-Gon (next chapter!) and Dooku.
> 
> Also, it turns out canon never did give Dooku a first name. Even Jedi Lost implies the jury is still out. Both Yan and Jard are fan creations, and Dooku Serreno - while the most likely of the three - is still very uncertain. I'll be sticking to Yan because it works best.
> 
> Another head canon is that Pong Krell worked closely with Younglings and Initiates when he still lived up to the title of Master, not just instructing the former in Meditation but having been Ahsoka's guide to the Gathering.
> 
> I've also expanded a bit on Togruta biology, in that their co-ordination and linguistic abilities develop extremely quickly. If they're descended from a feline ancestor (which I assume) then 3 years is more than enough time to develop full control but an extended lifespan would slow it down some to the point that Ahsoka still sometimes has trouble. Essentially, Togruta babies reach the cruising stage by 2 instead of 3-4, and develop into complete autonomy over those years instead of around 5 like humans. The existence of montrals, and this improved muscular control, implied to me that not only would they be better for hearing, but also for their control over language. So they have a talent for learning new languages. It also explains a little about why Ahsoka progressed so rapidly in lightsaber combat (I mean come on! She's already using both Shien's reverse grip, AND Ataru's acrobatics before she becomes Anakin's Padawan! Where and how did she learn so much already?)
> 
> As for why Ahsoka is already concerned about attachment, it's more like the Jedi started pushing her on the issue early - she still remembers life with her biological family at this time. Also, 3 years is already too old to not remember at least something of her old life. I have memories of that age.

**Author's Note:**

> Very short, I know. But also sweet I hope! So what did you think?


End file.
